There were a lot of absentees from this year's Detroit Show, not least the European manufacturers, but those remained made a great impression unveiling important new metal, too.

The mood at the 2010 Detroit Motor Show was far more upbeat than it was last year, although quite a few of the big boys in the sports- and supercar scene didn't show their wares this year. The feeling among show goers was that they were missed - and that when the show returns in 2011, they will have made a return.

That depends on how the motor industry weathers 2010 - and so far the signs look positive. For one, the message about environmentally friendlier cars is certainly getting out, and regardless of your opinion on the matter, there's no doubting that meeting the challenges ahead has allowed manufacturers to be more creative than they have been for some time.